‘Unspecific Deixis’ in a Southern African English Context

Abstract

‘Africanisms’ are commonly defined as characteristics of African Second Language English usage on a range of levels of linguistic analysis, that is, in terms of Phonetics and Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Lexis and Semantics, Pragmatics and Usage, and Register. So far, most studies have concentrated on the more structural aspects of this phenomenon (phonological, morphological, and syntactic features). However, what is much more far-reaching in terms of its communicative impact is the way people, places and events are referred to, or verbally pointed to (deixis). ‘Deixis’ refers to linguistic strategies that place utterances in space and time, in relation to the speaker. Deictic expressions include words like here and there, now and then, first and second person pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, and tense. This paper will focus on pragmatic and usage-related features of Southern African English communicative behaviour which differ from equivalent linguistic behaviour by speakers of other varieties of English. In this context, it will discuss and analyse the use of deictic expressions in actual face-to-face interactions as a feature of African English. In order to investigate this ‘unspecific deixis’, examples from actual conversations, formal meetings and television interviews will be analysed.